Crystal Pier Building Demolition OKd

The San Diego City Council on Tuesday cleared the way for demolition of a unique but aging building and the fabled arch that greets visitors to the historic Crystal Pier in Pacific Beach.

Owners of the Crystal Pier administration building, which was built in the 1930s, first must win permits from the Coastal Commission and other agencies before building a $2.5-million project that would incorporate a 19-room motel, several retail shops and an underground parking garage.

The pier building, which is topped by the “Crystal Pier” and “Motel” signs, is owned by businessman Willis M. Allen Jr., whose family also operates the 19 picturesque motel units on the pier. Although the administration building is owned by the Allen family, ownership of the pier is divided between the Allen family and the city.

The San Diego Historic Site Review Board recently won designation of the pier as a historic site, an action that both the city and the Allen family endorsed.

But the council Tuesday declined to designate the administration building as a historic site. Council members instead directed the Allens to establish a photographic record of the pier building that, to some Pacific Beach residents, symbolizes Pacific Beach’s evolution from a quiet beach town into a bustling part of San Diego.

Designating the building as a historic site “would essentially kill this project,” said Marie Burke Lia, an attorney who represented the Allen family at Tuesday’s council meeting. Preservation of the administration building is not appropriate because at least 75% of it has been remodeled over the years, Lia said.

The Allen family already has spent $1.6 million to improve its holdings on the pier, with the expectation that the city will not seek to designate the building a historic site, Lia said.

The pier renovation plan calls for the remodeling of some of the 19 cottages on the pier and the addition of about six more units. The family also has proposed a new bait shop and snack shop.

The proposed two-story building would be lower the existing administration building, which exceeds San Diego height limits, Lia said. Architectural designs call for the now-familiar arch and the Crystal Pier sign to be “replicated” in the new building, Lia said.

The council supported the family’s appeal of the Historical Site Review Board’s historic designation request by a 5-1 vote. Councilwoman Abbe Wolfsheimer voted against the appeal and council members Linda Bernhardt and Wes Pratt were absent. Mayor Maureen O’Connor abstained from voting because her family uses Allen’s real estate company to sell property.

The council’s vote drew opposition from a representative of Save Our Heritage Foundation, who argued that the building, the arch and the signs represent “Pacific Beach to visitors and residents alike.”

Pacific Beach resident Al Strohlein urged council to embrace “the smelly nostalgia of old piers” rather than allow demolition of the landmark structure.

However, Councilman Bruce Henderson, whose district incorporates the pier and building, argued that Pacific Beach residents haven’t shown much concern about the building’s fate.

“They don’t see us really losing the historic use (of the pier),” Henderson said. “They see a (new) building that is going to solve problems.”

One Pacific Beach businessman urged the council to allow demolition of the building because “Pacific Beach is in real need of revitalization of the business district that ends at Crystal Pier. . . . We need to get business back at the beach where it belongs.”

“We need a look that is not seedy, and right now we’ve got a seedy look,” the businessman said. “Whatever the Allens can do to enhance that area would be a plus.”